Upgrading to SSD on HP ENVY 15t-j100 Quad Edition

[Liamwj]

I bought a 120gb msata SSD and want it to be the boot drive as well as having the 1TB HDD in for additional storage (so far unsuccessful). Will this process work? Also is there a way of getting windows 8 (OEM) product key to make the bootable USB, or does cloning the whole HDD work?

Sorry if it's a silly question, new to this sort of stuff. 🙂

[newhpenvyuser]

From what I read so far, you cannot have both mSSD and 2.5'' HDD in place and have it to boot from the mSSD. mSSD was designed as the cache for this HP ENVY model, as a result,  the BIOS/EFI always boots from HDD if both are present.

For your bootable USB question, if your only purpose of the USB device is to store the windows HDD image temporarily before you transfer the image to mSSD, you don't need a separate windows License key. In theory, if you copy every single bit from one media to another and use the same laptop to boot from devices of the same SATA controller, there is no reason why it won't work.

But if you intend to use the USB device to boot into windows at any point of time, I don't have enough windows knowledge to know if it's going to work.

[Liamwj]

Thanks that's very helpful. I think I'm going to purchase a 2.5" SSD and replace the HDD. Is it possible to use the msata just as extra storage? Because using it for cashing would be pointless with an SSD as well. How would i go about doing this, as my computer doesn't seem to even boot with the msata in. It just loops the HP automatic repair and continualy restarts.

[newhpenvyuser]

If your laptop is stuck in the boot cycle when both HDD and mSATA are plugged in, try to boot without the mSATA to see if it makes any difference. If it's still the same thing, there is something wrong with your windows installation now.  I'm not really a windows guy, so I won't be able to tell you more about it.

If your laptop is stuck in the boot cycle when only the mSATA is plugged in, there might be something wrong with the copying process. You have to make sure all the relevant data is copied over. That includes the correct partition table - i.e., you'll have to shrink the partition size on the HDD before you do the copy since the capacity of the mSATA is smaller than HDD.

[Shiva01]

Hi Sparkles1,

My current Laptop is HP ENVY M6-N010DX, I'm trying to upgrade it from current 750Gb HDD to a 180 Gb SSD.

Can you please let me know if this SSD is compatible with my model?

Is the cloning process same as you metioned above for this model as well? Is there any things to consider while upgrading to SSD, considering this laptop has an AMD processor?

Thanks,

Shiva

[Sparkles1]

Good Morning Shiva01,

I see that you would like to change the hard drive in your is HP ENVY M6-N010DX notebook.

Here is a link to HP ENVY m6 Notebook PC Maintenance and Service Guide. There is a list of supported hard drive replacements for this notebook but a SSD is not listed.  This is not to say it will not work, only that it is untested. 

There is a hybrid drive listed which is 7.0 mm but when I checked the specifications of the specified drive it is 6.35 mm.  There would definitely be room but you will need to check if it can be secured properly. Your system does have an AMD processor so that spec is in line. HP ENVY m6-n010dx Notebook PC Product Specifications

I hope this helps.

[Shiva01]

Hi Sparkles1

Good Morning to you too!

I digged around a bit and found out this is in fact listed in HP check for parts.

Isn't the current HDD in Envy M6 N010DX that standard 2.5" ?

So you are saying that the HP 765610-001 SSD is compatible, but you are not sure if it could be secured properly is that right?

Thanks,

Shiva

[Shiva01]

Hi Sparkles1,

There is a hybrid drive listed which is 7.0 mm but when I checked the specifications of the specified drive it is 6.35 mm.  There would definitely be room but you will need to check if it can be secured properly.

You mean to say the listed HP 765610-001 a hybrid drive and NOT a SSD?

Thanks,

Shiva

[Sparkles1]

Hi Shiva01,

The maintenance and service guide does not list a SSD but it does list a hybrid drive which is 7.00 mm. Notebopk drivers are 2.5 inch which is standard.

Because a SSD is not listed in maintenance and service guide, I cannot recommended  it, and cannot say for  sure that it will work.  It is thinner in depth which is why I said you would need to check to ensure if  it can be secured without affecting any other parts.  I don't see why it should not work, but cannot guarantee that it will as it is not a recommended replacement.

I hope this has cleared any confusion.

[gbranch]

I have an HP ENVY TouchSmart 15t-j000, and switched the 1TB HDD to a Crucial M500 960GB.  The easiest way to make the switch was to also purchase their 'Easy Laptop Install Kit.' That worked like a champ.  You cannot just use the Recovery Media you created when you set up your laptop, nor will the Recovery Media that you can purchase.  If you want to do a full install, you can get a legal image from Microsoft and then use your windows 8 code.  Again though, I find the easiest method is using the Easy Laptop Install Kit which migrates the entire disc (HDD) over to the new SSD.  Once that is done, I made a recovery image using Acronis True Image, which I keep along with my current backups.  Hope that helps.  By the way, the Crucial site walks you though which SSD is compatible to your particular HP Envy laptop.